"Beneath its placid and gorgeously manicured surface, the quasi-supernatural Thai romantic fantasy A Useful Ghost conceals a deep well of weirdness. A reserved yet occasionally ribald rendering of omnisexual love, longing and belonging, the Roxie's Valentine's weekend offering ( playing Feb. 13-16 and 19) should find plenty of admirers in what used to be called Babylon by the Bay. The movie gets to the central relationship much, much faster than I have, patient reader."
"March (Witsarut Himmarat), mourning a loss, has contracted a respiratory illness. His late wife, Nat (Davika Hoorne), takes up residence in a vacuum cleaner to help cure him. This is not quite as random as you may think because Nat's perennially disapproving mother-in-law Suman (Apasiri Nitibhon) owns the vacuum cleaner factory at the center of all the paranormal shenanigans. Boonbunchachoke's precise compositions reminded me of absurdist Swedish filmmaker and Roxie favorite Roy Andersson"
A Useful Ghost is a Thai quasi-supernatural romantic fantasy that mixes omnisexual desire with oddball surrealism and dark undertones. March, ill and mourning, is aided by his late wife Nat, who inhabits a vacuum cleaner manufactured by his disapproving mother-in-law Suman. The film deploys precise, absurdist compositions, anthropomorphic humor, and moments of ribald comedy alongside jarring, chilling elements such as vitriolic monks and politically used electroconvulsive therapy. The tone alternates between whimsical pathos and disturbing seriousness, combining Pixar-like visual sympathy with unsettling scenes that complicate the light comedic surface.
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